Uncertain
by Jamiecat2013
Summary: Glinda's emotional return to her dorm room at Shiz.


Glinda Upland stood looking at the door to her dorm room with her neatly packed pink luggage waiting beside her and a frown upon her face. The paper notices on the walls said that students transferring rooms would do so in three days, and she was unsure if she would find her room as she had left it earlier that month.

At the beginning of her first term at Shiz, Glinda had been selected to room with Elphaba Thropp; a green skinned girl studying science with a particular interest in politics. At first the two absolutely despised each other, and Glinda spent many nights sleeping in the rooms of various friends who lived in the same building. The first agreement that the girls made was for Elphaba to put in a request to move to a private room over the winter holiday break, since it was more likely for her request to be honored due to her position in Munchkinland. As time went on the girls started to understand each other and the two managed to live together peacefully. By the end of the first term they considered each other friends, although they still frequently had arguments.

Glinda took a deep breath and turned her key in the lock on the doorknob, bracing herself to see a shell of the room that she had left. She gently pushed the door open and let out her breath through her nose. The left side of the dorm room was exactly as she had left it. Her bed was made, her bedside table was neatly organized, and the bookshelves over her bed containing photos of her friends and family from home who she had just left. The right side of the dorm room was different, but nothing was missing. Elphaba's bed was still covered with an old grey blanket, but Glinda could see a new set of sheets and blanket on the bed. Her bookshelves were still overflowing and her desk was covered with scattered papers, several of which were scattered on the floor as well. The green girl was asleep on her side facing the center of the room; one arm folded neatly beneath her head and the other curled close to her chest, her hand in the shape of a fist resting near her mouth as if she were about to cough.

Glinda pulled her bags through the door and turned on the light in their small bathroom before shutting and locking the door to the hallway. She dug through her bags until she found some nightclothes, considering waking up her roommate as she went to the bathroom to change. The last argument they had was rather heated, when Glinda came back to get another hug before she traveled home to see her family for the holiday and Elphaba was telling her that she planned to stay in their dorm room through the holiday break.

_"What do you mean you're not going home for the break? Don't you want to spend the holidays with your family?" _

_"I don't particularly get along with my family, Glinda. I will be much happier staying here in our room." _

_"Well I left you a gift to open on Lurlinemas. Be sure to get some sleep and don't stay up all month studying. I'll write you some notes on your calendar to help remind you to go to the market bef-" _

_"I am not a child, Galinda", Elphaba snapped. It was evident that the girls were arguing when they addressed each other by their given names instead of their shortened nicknames. "I do not need you to write me any reminders or tell me when I should and should not sleep." _

_"But the campus café will be closed starting on-" _

_"I am fully aware of when the campus closes for the holiday. I'm a university student, not a little girl. I don't need you to treat me like a child and tell me how and when you would like for me to eat and sleep. You are only in here because you yourself were acting like a child and you had to come back and get one more hug before you run home to mommy and daddy for the month." _

_Elphaba's words were harsh, but Glinda was used to it after a full term living with the girl. She took a shaky breath and stepped close to the taller girl, wrapping her arms around her thin body and giving her one more hug. "Happy Lurlinemas, Elphie. Please take care of yourself." She lingered there until she felt her roommate's arms squeeze around her, the green girl resting her cheek on top of blonde curls for a few moments. Elphie released her grip and stepped away from Glinda, smiling slightly. The two walked to the door together and the green girl lifted Glinda's last bag from the floor and handed it to her. Elphaba watched until the blonde turned the corner and was out of sight before returning to the room and closing the door._

Glinda washed her hands and face and changed into her nightclothes, taking note that Elphie's things were still in their designated places around their shared bathroom. Glinda started to feel frustrated that Elphaba hadn't packed any of her things yet. She had confided in her parents while she was with them that she really did enjoy the green girl's company and that she missed her greatly when they were apart. Her parents comforted her as she shared her fears of the green girl leaving and Glinda losing a friend, and calmed her fears as she wondered what type of girl she would be living with when Elphaba left. They also listened without interrupting while Glinda pondered what might happen if Elphie decided not to change rooms and would finish out the year or even all of their college years as roommates.

She turned off the bathroom light and stood in the doorway to the bathroom until her eyes adjusted to the darkness of the room. She sat on her bed for a few minutes, wanting to wake up her roommate and tell her hi but worried that the older girl would think she was childish for doing so. She moved across the room and found herself on her knees beside the other girl's bed, folding her arms carefully on the side of the bed and resting her head on them. She was pleased that Elphie was using the bedding set that she left as a Lurlinemas gift, even if she was still using her old blanket over the new bedding. She picked at a piece of fuzz on the old blanket as she heard Elphaba's breathing change and felt her stretch her long body out over the bed. "What are you doing on the floor?"

Glinda smiled at the sound of her roommate's scratchy voice. "I just got back and was trying to decide if I should wake you up. I guess you made that decision for me."

Elphaba moved over on the bed and patted the spot where she had made room for the blonde. Glinda sat on the edge of the bed and moved to lie down on her side to face her roommate. Elphaba kept her legs straight, so Glinda curled her knees up to take up the space between the two of them. They sat in silence for a few beats before Elphie spoke again. "What do you want to talk about?"

"Nothing, really. I just wanted to say hi." Glinda propped her head up on her hand so she could see her roommate more easily. Elphaba dramatically flopped onto her back and laughed.

"You mean to tell me that after all the time you spent fighting with me telling me that I need to get more sleep, you're going to march in here and wake me up just to say hi? My little brother used to do the same thing when he would come back from a trip."

Glinda frowned, quickly standing up and moving to her side of the room. She stumbled over her open luggage and fell on the floor, hitting her arm on the corner of her wooden bedframe in an attempt to catch herself. Elphie stood up and turned on the lamp beside her bed, sinking to the floor and offering Glinda a hand to help her stand up. She pulled her roommate into a hug when she saw that she was crying. Glinda's tears stung at her neck, but Elphie held her breath and tried to comfort her friend. After a few more moments she backed away from her roommate and grabbed a piece of clothing from the open bag on the floor, draping it across her shoulder and neck and pulling Glinda back into a tight embrace.

"Why are you so mean to me all the time?" Glinda pushed herself away from her roommate, angrily wiping the tears from her eyes and then putting her hands on her hips, signaling to Elphie that she was ready to argue.

"What do you mean? I didn't say anything! I helped you up when you fell over and then you started yelling at me!" Elphaba looked at the girl for a few beats before opening the drawer on her bedside table to get some oil to soothe the burn that had formed on her neck.

"You keep getting mad at me for having the nerve to just care about you! And then in the same breath you pick on me and call me childish. Why can't you just let someone care about you without starting an argument about it every _single_ time?"

Elphaba's face softened considerably as she stepped closer to the flushed girl across from her. Glinda backed away and furrowed her brow even further, so Elphaba stepped back and took a seat on the edge of her bed. She was searching for words when Glinda started to speak again, this time tearfully. "Why haven't you started packing yet?"

"I can start tomorrow if you wish. But I was going to talk with you about the possibility of me staying here instead. I didn't realize it until you left, but I got used to having a roommate and I really missed you while you were away."

Tears were flowing down Glinda's face, and Elphie couldn't tell what emotion they were the result of. She cautiously stood up and stood in front of her friend, opening her arms in a silent invitation for a hug. Glinda stepped forward then hesitated, turning to get something off of her bed. She draped a small towel from her bag across the green girl's neck and shoulder and then put herself into Elphie's arms for a long embrace. "Do you really want to stay?"

Elphaba smiled, taking a deep breath. "I think I do. If that is alright with you of course. If I wasn't living with you last term, I doubt that I would still be at Shiz. I probably would have been kicked out for poor grades because I wasn't sleeping or eating as much as I needed to. I think while you were gone I tried to compensate for you not being here too much. There are crumbs in my bed from eating snacks there, and look!" she stepped back and lifted up her nightdress to reveal her flat stomach. "Remember when you were fussing at me for my stomach being sunken in? I'm happy to report that a month of only leaving this room to retrieve food has officially un-sunken me."

Glinda giggled, poking at her roommate's still slender stomach. She patted her own and smiled, "Next Lurlinemas you need to come home with me. This is what happens after a month of full access to the kitchen at my house. I think I indulged in one too many midnight snacks." She rubbed her eyes and wiped the last few stray tears from her cheeks. "So you're staying?"

"Only if you are okay with it," Elphie said quietly. Glinda nodded and pulled the girl into a tight hug.

"For the record, I missed you too. Can we stay together tonight? Please?" Glinda looked up with a glimmer in her eye that made it impossible for Elphie to say no. They got comfortable lying side by side in Elphie's bed and talked for a few minutes as Glinda started to get drowsy. After a yawn had interrupted the story of Glinda's Lurlinemas feast three times, Elphie leaned over her to turn the lamp on her bedside table off. The blonde brushed her hand across the sheets where Elphie's body had been. "You really weren't kidding about the crumbs in your bed."

She smiled and settled back down onto her back, feeling Glinda roll so she was on her side as her head came to rest on Elphie's shoulder. A small hand began to lightly tickle her stomach and Elphie gently slapped it away, turning her head to kiss Glinda's forehead. "Goodnight goofball. Don't steal all the blankets, okay?"

Glinda smiled, feeling a warmth and comfort wash over her. "No promises." With that, they fell into silence as they both drifted off to sleep.

Elphaba woke the next morning lying on her stomach with her legs sliding off of the bed. Glinda was taking up the majority of the bed and had all of the blankets wrapped around her, and she was snoring lightly. Elphie stretched and got up as slowly as she could, trying not to disturb the sleeping girl. She walked to Glinda's desk and found a note pad that was labeled as a to-do list. She picked up a pink glitter pen and wrote in large print- "Establish rules for sharing a bed". Beneath that, beside a bullet point and with slightly smaller handwriting, "_Must provide your own blanket_."


End file.
